Cuts threat to safety
Page 9
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by Lee Kiniber III Unions fear Department of Transport cuts could jeopardise vehicle safety and hide inquiries into I,GV accidents from public scrutiny.
The Department of Transport wants 400 job cuts to meet a 20% payroll reduction in its core operations, including Traffic Area Offices, over three years.
Union officials fear that hardpressed VI staff might also face further reductions even as they struggle to introduce continuous licensing.
"We won't know until 2 March whether any VI jobs will go—the DOT don't know yet," says a Civil and Public Servants Association spokesman. "But it would be hard to believe that a general cut in DOT funding wouldn't have a knock-on effect on the VI."
DOT and VI spokesmen say they know nothing about the latest cuts but admit the 14% cut in DOT funding announced in the last Budget might lead to job losses.
A CPSA spokesman says that because public inquiries require more staff to organise them, the TAO cuts could force more inquiries into accidents and 0licence issues to be held privately, where only the area commissioner and the haulier are present.
This week Scottish Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts told CM: "Service standards are already at a dangerous level" (see page 24).
Transport Secretary Sir George Young is promising an extra £495,000 for truck, bus and coach checks in 1996/97. But the CPSA says the cash is from internal DOT budgets and a fraction of the VI's £50m budget.